I want to find the person who owns one of the coolest things I saw on the playa this year. It's simple, but incredibly efficient. It's an oversized scooter. It's sort of brown in color, and is extra-wide with huge, wide (like 2 feet) tires. He makes it move forward by using his foot to push the rear wheel and rotate it. When that happens, the scooter gains its own magical momentum and kind of "rolls" and "bounces" forward a few times before he has to push with his foot again. Did anyone else see this thing? It was sweet. He bounced away before I could talk to him.

The "secret" to this type of forward propulsion is that the rear wheel is eccentric. That is, the axle is offset several inches from center of the wheel. With his hundreds of miles of practice, he can get up to alarming speed on the thing.

I have also watched him go ass-over-applecart when it got away from him on a down-hill!

I've seen a few of those over the years, pretty neat designs. Funny thing is that I saw the "actual" flintstone car out there this year, meaning they built a car that looked just like the one in the cartoon.

Hi, I am Peter the Bouncing machine rider & builder
Big Friendly Giraffe this year, Bounce for Glory previously...
. The playa dust on the beast will be washed off Sunday as we glide in the waters of Seattle's Lake Washington Canal, and also the Ballard Locks...It's gonna be fun!

Hedy, loved your machine, too. My first playa visit was in '06, but I had a bunch of locals from home bring some of my stuff in '04 or '05......
bouncing on the playa is pretty practical..sort of...
You're a kinetic racer or fan too?
I want to make a dragon or such flame machine...I've got the bug, I guess...